Georgia Democrats on Saturday elected Charlie Bailey to serve as the party’s new chairman, succeeding Nikema Williams, who had held the role since 2019.
Bailey has been involved in Democratic politics since college as part of the Young Democrats of the University of Georgia.
Bailey, 42, has bachelor’s degrees in religion and political science from UGA, which is also where he got his law degree.
He grew up in Harris County outside of Columbus on a farm that has been in his family for more than 100 years. He moved to the Atlanta area about 15 years ago.
The Atlanta resident has twice sought statewide office in Georgia. He was the Democratic nominee for attorney general in 2018 and lieutenant governor in 2022.
Bailey captured about 49% of the vote in 2018 when he was defeated by Attorney General Chris Carr, which was the highest vote share of any statewide Democrat that cycle other than Stacey Abrams for governor.
His 2022 loss to now-Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was a bit larger. He got just 46% of the votes cast that year.
Bailey previously served as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County focusing on gang crimes.
He’s also worked for some of the state’s top Democrats, including in the office of Mark Taylor, the last Democrat to serve as lieutenant governor, and at the law practice of Roy Barnes, Georgia’s last Democratic governor.
Bailey now works as a partner at a private law firm.
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